v3c81

Chapter 81: Annihilation Sword ⑤

The lowest level of the ruins was a straight, single bridge, reeking of rot.

The bridge was wide, and a massive horde had gathered—zombies, skeletons, and ghouls all mixed together.

“Disgusting taste. They’re eating each other.”

Narcissus looked at them as if she were staring at vomit or filth.

Ghouls and zombies were devouring one another, with skeletons getting dragged into the mess as well.

Hideous. And yet, their numbers barely decreased.

“Daba. I’ll throw the holy water Wol-kun gave us.”

Holy water… huh. I was skeptical.

Not from Wol—no, from Wof. He’d given it to us in a canteen, saying it worked incredibly well on undead.

And that liquid looked exactly like what was in that little vial.

Dokkas opened the lid and splashed it forcefully over the undead.

It scattered across a wide area, and the undead it touched vanished in an instant.

No—purified. Everything disappeared completely.

“Daba!?”

“What the hell is that!?”

“Huh. Not bad.”

“…Undead-specialized.”

This really was outrageous.

As expected of that liquid. I had a rough idea what it really was.

Why he had so much of it, I didn’t know—and I wasn’t about to ask.

My time with Wof had been short but intense.

Still, even I had one or two hidden trump cards I couldn’t tell him about.

Well, not on Wof’s scale, though.

He beat Alweld, beat even a treasure-class foe. In combat power alone, he’s Rank I.

Though in everything else he’s still lacking—overall, he’s Rank V.

After the liquid was splashed, Narcissus dove in.

That woman… I really don’t get her.

She’s definitely holding something back, but I can’t see what it is.

She’s probably wielding an invisible weapon.

Which is why being near her scares the hell out of me.

She’s less “Edda” and more like 【Generous】.

Meaning she’s the same type as Wof—combat power Rank I.

Aside from that, she’s so useless it’s questionable she even calls herself an explorer.

Seriously, I don’t get her at all.

Seed unleashed flames from his spear. His relic is 【Fire】.

And the spear he carries is an OOPArt called Heatran.

Its tip heats up and produces flames.

Combined with his spear technique, that puts him at Rank II skill.

After wiping out the bridge, we reached the deepest area.

Probably because that thing had been sealed in its entirety, the lowest floor was wide and circular.

Wide space meant more undead—or so I thought, but it was completely empty.

Instead, a black sphere floated deep inside, and in front of it stood a skeleton wearing a white mantle.

A rusted crown on its head, a staff topped with a skull in its hand.

“A lich.”

When I called out, it slowly turned toward me.

Then it raised its skull staff.

“Alexandre. Dumas. Père.”

As it chanted something, an enormous amount of blood overflowed from the ground.

From it emerged three knights clad in rusted armor.

Pale ghostly flames burned within their eye sockets—

Wraith Knights, lower-tier gold-rank undead.

“Guess it can’t be helped. ‘Annihilation Sword.’”

Narcissus rushed toward one of the Wraith Knights.

At the same time, Seed and Dokkas each engaged one as well.

Which leaves the lich to me, huh.

“So that’s how it is. Let’s do this one-on-one.”

I extended Flametongue, and it became shrouded in blue-black flames.

The skull on the lich’s staff rattled, cackling.

I swung Flametongue. The annihilating flames flew toward the lich.

From the skull’s mouth, the lich launched a blood-red, blackened blade.

They canceled each other out, but I pressed forward without hesitation.

The lich spat out a curved crimson-black blade from the skull-mouth and swung it at me like a scythe.

Once, twice, three times—we clashed first as a form of greeting.

Then I slashed lightly from the right, followed by a diagonal cut from the left.

It was deflected, so I thrust.

It slipped past gracefully.

I clicked my tongue, stepped in, and slashed again using only a snap of my wrist.

“Take this, take this, take this, take this, take thiiiiiis!!”

I danced wildly, forceful and rough.

Not an elegant dance—but a powerful tango.

Stepping lightly, I slashed relentlessly in all directions.

“Not bad, you bony bastard!”

Damn thing—it avoided, deflected, and blocked everything as if on autopilot.

Then black lines flashed across the crimson-black scythe.

I burned them away with annihilation flames.

“Too soft!”

A slight opening appeared. I leapt in and burned the lich down in one go.

“Tch.”

The feedback was weak.

The skull on the lich’s staff rattled and laughed again.

Annoying.

I widened Flametongue, extending the annihilation flames from the blade.

From the skull’s mouth, the lich spewed crimson-black fire.

“Don’t underestimate me! One Slash—Sever the Demon!”

I cleaved through the crimson-black flames.

The stench of blood filled the air.

The lich retreated.

“Tch… evenly matched, huh.”

I don’t fully get it, but that crimson-black stuff is almost equal to my annihilation flames.

I don’t know what kind of necromancer he was, but he was damn skilled.

“Guess there’s no helping it.”

Dragging this out would just waste stamina.

I pulled a small, ominous horn from my pouch and put it in my mouth.

The Horn of Amaltheia.

A legendary item meant only for fauns.

Drink it, and you gain infinite power.

But a human body can’t withstand that infinity.

Drink it, and in exchange for power—you die.

“GRAAAAAAAOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!”

I screamed, collapsing to my knees and staring up at the sky in agony.

My entire body felt like it was about to burst apart.

Especially my head—my horns—everything felt like it would split open, explode, and shatter.

My hair grew longer, my black horns enlarged massively.

The moment I realized it, the agony vanished like a lie.

My vision, my consciousness—everything turned pure white and expanded.

I stood up.

Gripping Flametongue, I swung it.

“Annihilation… Sword.”

A blue-black flaming slash, too fast to be seen, tore through the lich.

And it burned.

“――――!?”

For the first time, panic appeared on the lich’s face.

No time left. I’m finishing this in one go.

I’d been using one hand until now—but I gripped Flametongue tightly with both.

“Flametongue——Double Standard—!”

The Flametongue kept swelling and stretching, then split down the middle, its tongue becoming two.

“Annihilate demons, karmic demons, sever demons, black magic—
Annihilation surge, rosary purification!”

Between the split tongues, blue and black spheres of flame formed, linked together like prayer beads.

“——!!”

Panicking, the lich fired a rapid succession of blood-black blades from the skull-mouth of its staff.

Pathetic. Useless.

Just before reaching me, the blood-black blades were wiped out by a blue-black heat wave.
Right now, I had a heat wave spread around me like a barrier.
Ordinary attacks were completely nullified.

Gripping the double-tongued Flametongue, which held the blue and black flame spheres, I raised it high with both hands.

“It’s over. Annihilation Sword—Blazing Explosive Demon!!”

I brought it down with all my strength.

The instant it touched the lich as it tried to flee, the Flametongue exploded in blue-black light.
The chain of blue and black flame spheres between the two tongues detonated all at once.

Even I, the one who used it, trembled at the sheer power.
The lich, struck head-on, vanished completely.

Clatter—clunk.
The staff fell to the ground. The charred skull rattled and let out a mocking laugh.

“You’re annoying.”

I crushed the skull under my foot. I thought I heard a dying scream.

“Huu…”

As I felt my hair and horns return to normal, the strength drained from me and I sank down onto the floor.
I opened the small vial Wof had given me and drank it. My lost stamina instantly returned.
The Flametongue lying on the floor also reverted to its single tongue.

“Good work.”

Since there was a little left, I poured some on my partner, Flametongue.
Maybe because it’s a living metal—somehow, it felt like it was pleased.

That reminds me—what happened to the others?

Wraith Knights are tough, you know. I glanced over.

Just in time, Narcissus blew away one’s upper body, Seed, covered in wounds, burned another straight through, and Dokkas smashed the last one apart with his spiked steel mace.

No worries there.

All that remained was the floating black sphere.
We just needed to destroy the event trigger.

“A floating sphere, huh.”

Two lines—blue and white—ran through its center, and inside it blinked red.
Was it just my imagination? I felt like I’d seen a color variation of this somewhere before.

Where was it? Where had I seen it…?

“Hm. Probably just my imagination.”

Seed and Dokkas destroyed the event trigger, with Narcissus joining in halfway.
She looked like she was having fun, smashing it to pieces thoroughly.

I watched them absentmindedly. They’re really energetic.

Then a thought crossed my mind.

“I get the undead, but… what was with the sahagin?”

It was definitely the work of the event trigger, but why sahagin?

“…Well, whatever.”

With this, the ongoing event should disappear.

It will, right?

“Ah… I wanna drink.”

When we get back, maybe we’ll have a big party and drink ourselves silly.